The latest in a series of infrequent entries has arrived. May’s book is 1992's Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, in which historians conduct research into the past via time travel. The setting first appeared in her 1982 short story, “Fire Watch”. June brings up The Golden Globe (1998) by John Varley. Be advised, those Wiki links have spoilers.

Speaking of the website, it is being updated as evidenced by the updated main page, the additions to the Library page, and this. There’s more done that’s not been uploaded as of yet. What prompted this blog entry? This: Exclusive Phase II Update and first look at Arex .



Yep. The folks at over at the Star Trek fan film site Phase II aka New Voyages are bringing Lieutenant Arex to CGI life. He’ll be voiced by Chris Doohan, son of James, so hopefully he’ll sound much the same. (If not, I stand ready.) The design’s changed, shorter nose, softer brow, thicker neck, but overall, he looks awesome, especially being produced by a group of fans working for nothing more than the love of the project.

This is the kind of thing I knew was possible when I first saw the brachiasaur in Jurassic Park but I never thought I see an Edoan in any Star Trek production unless it was done by me. Since I first saw The Animated Series in 1973, I have loved the Edoans.  Three legs, three arms, the voice, Arex was physically the most alien Star Fleet officer we’d ever seen. Few since compare, as the time and budget of live-action productions have limited them to the (in)famous forehead ridges and little else. Sure, we know nothing about them and as a character Arex is such a blank slate there’s hardly even a slate, but that didn’t matter. My handle on TrekBBS is Lieut. Arex, though the avatar wears a movie-style captain's uniform. Someplace around here there's about 10 seconds of stop-motion animation on Super-8 film with a clay Arex beaming down, firing his phaser, and beaming up, SFX courtesy of a pin scraping the film emulsion away.

A little known fact is that M'ress almost made it to the screen in Star Trek - The Motion Picture. Gene Roddenberry wanted wife Majel Barrett, who voiced the charrracterrr on TAS to make a cameo as the Caitian, but she balked at wearing the make-up appliances necessary. A real shame. Not that it would have improved them film, well, except for the Furries, but it would have solidified TAS' place in the canon and been a real thrill. So, M'ress had her shot, but Arex got there first. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Check out:
mark-strong-will-channel-his-inner-david-niven-for-green-lantern/

Hobbit business:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=489166&gt1=28101

MGM's financial woes have helped bury the SG-1 and SG-Atlantis DVD movies. Now, they've shut down James Bond:.
mgm-woes-cause-bond-23-to-be-delayed-development-suspended-indefinitely/

From the "Why, God, why?" department:
http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com...news&Itemid=71 Seriously, MiB-2 was a textbook example of why some wonderful films don't need sequels.

And from io9 :

A Whole Blog Dedicated To The Worst SF/Fantasy Book Covers

Parody Posters For Shows And Movies We're Glad Don't Exist